As beginnings go, it was not promising. The intern was late for his first meeting with his mentor at the Chicago law firm. And yet things worked out OK. More than three decades later, the mentee, Barack Obama, and his mentor and later wife, Michelle, are still together after eight years in the White House.
故事的开始并不顺利。芝加哥律师事务所的这位实习生在与他导师第一次见面时就迟到了。然而后续发展很好。30多年后,这位学徒巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)和他的导师、后来的妻子米歇尔(Michelle)在白宫生活了8年之后仍然在一起。
That the Obamas’ relationship started in the workplace is hardly unique. A survey this year from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that 27 per cent of US workers have had an office romance. Younger workers are sometimes characterised as puritanical, but research suggests they may be more open to the idea of workplace romance than older peers because the divide between private and work life is more porous.
奥巴马夫妇的恋情始于职场,这并不少见。美国人力资源管理协会(SHRM)今年的一项调查发现,27%的美国员工都有过一次办公室恋情。年轻的员工有时被认为道德感较高,但研究表明,他们可能比年长的同事更能接受办公室恋情,因为他们私人生活和工作生活之间的界限更加模糊。
The Christmas party is the backdrop to many budding romances. I know two people who met their future spouses this way. In the SHRM survey, more than a quarter of those who had an office relationship got together at work socials. Over the next few weeks, office workers will have the opportunity to requite the unrequited, as with Dawn and Tim in the television cringe-comedy, The Office, who finally kissed after years of shared glances and in-jokes, as Yazoo’s “Only You” played in the background.
许多恋情的萌芽都发生在圣诞派对。我认识的两个人就是这样遇到了他们未来的配偶。在人力资源管理协会的调查中,超过四分之一的办公室恋情是在工作社交聚会上凑成的。在接下来的几个星期里,上班族们将有机会去回应那些单相思,就像尴尬喜剧《办公室》(The Office)中的道恩和蒂姆一样,在多年的眼神交流和内部笑话之后,伴着Yazoo的《只有你》(Only You)背景音乐,俩人终于接吻了。